Cairo Or Baghdad...? a Critical Re-Examination of the Role of Egypt in the Fatimid Dynasty's Imperial Design (Iraq).

Abstract

Modern historiography of Fatimid foreign policy has convention- ally sought to portray that dynasty's imperial designs in the context of a direct Sunn(')i-Sh(')i('c('))i confrontation. Because the Fatimids sought universal hegemony over the Dar al-Islam, this argument holds, their prime foreign policy objectives must have been to eliminate the Sunn(')i-('c)Abbasid caliphate and to erect an Isma('c('))il(')i caliphate in its stead. This study challenges those assumptions--contending that from the rise of the Fatimid caliphate in North Africa in 297/909, its prime target for an imperial base was not Iraq at all, but Egypt. To reach their goal, the Fatimids launched four major military campaigns and a variety of diplomatic initiatives, all aimed at bringing the Nile Valley under their direct control. Similar attempts to subjugate Iraq are con- spicuous only by their absence, as clearly Egypt from the onset was intended to be the seat of empire, and not a mere stepping stone to the East. Once in Egypt, the Fatimids proceeded to develop the country as a permanent seat of rule. Their policies, both internal and external, derived from precedents established by the country's previous inde- pendent rulers. In foreign policy, their military posture was defensive. Their diplomatic initiatives supported coexistence, not conquest. Unlike the previous determined battle for Egypt, there were now no further assaults eastward save those required to establish Syria as a buffer zone at the Northeast border of their Nilocentric realm. Indeed, even when a curious da('c)wah-inspired coup d'etat in Baghdad afforded them great opportunity midway through the 5th/ 11th century, the Fatimid dynasts showed no real interest in it at all--instead soon allowing the city to slip back into ('c)Abbasid-Sunn(')i h and s. Based on new evidence, then, and on a more accurate reading of existing evidence, including eye witness accounts of key participants in early Isma('c('))il(')i movement, this study has produced conclusions regarding Fatimid foreign policy strikingly different from those con- ventionally portrayed--clearly demonstrating the primacy of Egypt within that dynasty's imperial ambitions.